Page 34 - CHRISTIE'S Buddhist Art Japanese Collections 09/14/17

THE PROPERTY OF GOTŌ SHINSHUDŌ

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A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF
A BODHISATTVA

WESTERN WEI DYNASTY (AD 535-556)

The fgure is heavily cast and shown standing on a lotus base, the right hand This fgure of a bodhisattva would have been part of a large, complex
holding a section of the long, looped necklace gathered by a disk below the Buddhist votive group, probably fanking a central fgure of Buddha, as
waist of the layered robes, and the left hand holding the scarf draped over the two attachment tabs are positioned near one edge of the back. The
the left arm, while the ends of the robes and the scarves fare out to the sides. treatment of the robes and scarves, which fare outward in an animated
The face is cast with a gentle expression, and is framed by the ribbons that fashion from the sides, is one of the distinctive styles seen during the
trail from the crown decorated with three globular ‘jewels’. Two pierced Northern Wei, Eastern Wei and Western Wei periods. A similar treatment
attachment tabs project from near the edge of the hollow back on the fgure’s of the robes, with faring, wing-tipped drapery, can be seen on the fgure
proper right side. of a gilt-bronze luohan (14.6 cm. high) in the Fogg Museum, Cambridge,
illustrated by H. Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Vermont/Tokyo,
4¡ in. (11.2 cm.) high 1967, frontispiece, where it is dated Northern Wei dynasty. This depiction of
the robes and scarves creates an abstract, linear pattern that obscures the
$20,000-30,000 body. The current fgure is very similar to another bodhisattva fgure which
forms the center of a complex votive group in the Art Institute of Chicago,
PROVENANCE illustrated by Matsubara Saburo in Chugoku Bukkyo Chokokushi ron (The
Path of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture),Tokyo, 1995, vol. 1, pl. 296, where it
Mayuyama & Co., Tokyo, prior to 1983. is dated Western Wei (AD 535-556), as it is by Jin Shen in Zhongguo lida
jinian foxiang tudian (Illustrated Chinese Buddha Images Through the Ages),
EXHIBITED Beijing, 1995, p. 216, no. 158. Not only are the robes, scarves and necklace
similar, but also the shape and features of the face and the crown with
Osaka, Osaka City Museum, Art of the Six Dynasties, 10 October - trailing ribbons. Like the current fgure, the bodhisattva in the published
9 November, 1975, no. 3-180. group stands on a lotus base, but is surrounded by subsidiary fgures,
Osaka, Osaka City Museum, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Osaka, 6 October - all raised on a stand with open sides that is inscribed with a dedicatory
11 November, 1984, no. 89. inscription by Kang Sheng dated to AD 539.
Osaka, Kuboso Art Museum, Gilt Bronze Buddhas from the Six Dynasties
period, 1991, no. 92.
Nara, Museum Yamato Bunkakan, Chinese Gilt Bronze Buddhist Figures,
2 October - 8 November 1992, no. 78.

LITERATURE

Osaka City Museum, Art of the Six Dynasties, Osaka, 1975, p. 34, no. 3-180.
Osaka City Museum, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Osaka, 1984, p. 61, no. 89.
Kuboso Art Museum, Gilt Bronze Buddhas from the Six Dynasties period,
Osaka, 1991, p. 92, no. 92.
Museum Yamato Bunkakan, Chinese Gilt Bronze Buddhist Figures, 2 October -
8 November, 1992, p. 70, no. 38.
Matsubara Saburo, Chugoku Chokokushi ron (The Path of Chinese Buddhist
Sculpture), Tokyo, vol. 1, 1995, pl. 260b.

西魏 鎏金銅菩薩立像

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